I Have Received a Valentine!

Miss Kendra has flocked to me. As a token, she has sent me this beautiful cupid frame that she made. Isn't it so lovely? Thank you, Kendra! I heart you.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is true love.

Too bad they're brothers.

Oh, I hope I get this.

Dear Spinning Girl,

If you have any love interests for Valentine's Day, let's hope they do not purchase this Ghirardelli adorned lady-bear for you...for their own sake.

Enjoy, MadMeer

Actually, that bear is kind of cute ... I hate to say it. SG

Word!

Lee Ann gave me something fun to do on my snow day. A word cloud! It is made of random words from my blog. I wonder what someone would think my blog was about, if this were the first thing they saw of it? It's fairly true to the mark, I believe. It's sort of a This is Your Life, a little walk through my writings past & present.

& Here's where I made it ... in case, y'know, you wanna try it out.

Could Anything Be Sweeter ...

... than getting the "Snow Day" phone call at 8:48 PM the day before?!?! I think not! Yahhhooooo!

We are a Small, but Proud Nation.

Estonia wins Gold!

Read about it here.

Exercise Your Right to Vote

I thought I might go all-color with the sushi avatar for a while. I can't decide which I like better. Let's vote.

A

B

Please cast your vote. And as in that great masterpiece American Idol, you may vote as many times as you like.

I Should Just Lay Me Down & Die.

You Are: Curling

What you lack in athleticism, you make up for in concentration. And while curling isn't much more of a sport than bowling, you can win a gold medal for it!

What Winter Sport Are You?

Horses Bears of the Apocalypse

Ever since I revealed my sick fascination with Teddy Bears Dressed as Other Animals, my devout fans have searched the world for evidence of this decline of mankind, and filled my inbox with their photographic evidence. Here is some of the proof I have received:

From DaMasta's cell phone camera:

bear as heart

Monkeys as ballerinas; a subset of TBDOA.

While not a sign of the Apocalypse per se, it is perhaps a sign

of something milder, such as

gastrointestinal angst to come.

Bears dressed in cute outfits holding cute animals.

That is just wrong!

And from Lee Ann:

Bear as teacher.

As if we would allow the sinister

brainwashing that would ensue!

Thank you both for your vigilance. Let's all keep our eyes open; the signs are there, you just have to look for them.

Unconscious Mutterings 157

Lunaniña brings the best games. Here goes!:

1. Taking sides::
   
2. Couples::
   
3. Right of refusal::
   
4. Marla::
   
5. Multiple::
   
6. Trinity::
   
7. Sneeze::
   
8. Sweatpants::
   
9. Steve::
   
10. Fabulous::

Post your results and then peek at mine ... they are posted below Domo, who is enjoying a delicious Greek Yogurt snack.

I spun out:

Taking sides:: trying not to
Couples:: Therapy
Right of refusal:: Left of nowhere
Marla:: Thomas
Multiple:: Births
Trinity:: Matrix
Sneeze:: Kleenex
Sweatpants:: Giving Up
Steve:: Dearest
Fabulous:: Über

We Are Taking a Personal Day

I am taking a few days off to celebrate a major life event! I'll come back in a few days to tell you whether I am an aunt ... or an uncle. Meanwhile, gaze at the pretty tulips and think of spring:


In your comments, please slather on the love, and also tell me one non-traditional way in which you use any item. Por ejemplo, I use a spaghetti fork to clean leaves out of my gutter, and a garlic jar to hold vitamins.

Just a little research ... for my book, you know.

Now send in the clowns love!

[EDIT]: We are an uncle!

Snif Snif

Monkey talks about our last day together, here.

O Thou Hoo-Hah to my Seeking Hand

My dear little Monkey tells about his recent visit to Spinning Land. Read it here, and bring a kleenex.

Tagged by Damasta

Damasta has all the best tags! Here we go ...


1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what did you think?
C'mere, you, and give me some sugar! / Wow, eye bags (tie)

2. How much cash do you have on you?:
about $53, all in pennies.

3. What's a word that rhymes with "TEST"?:
Cinco de Mayo fest

4. Favorite planet?:
Earth. Duh!

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?:
Somebody speaking Spanish.

6. What is your favorite ring on your phone?:
They all suck.

7. What shirt are you wearing?:
A black button-down with white tank top underneath.

8. Do you "label" yourself?:
I don't understand the question. You mean like, "über fabu"?

9. Name the brand of your shoes you're currently wearing:
New Balance

10. Bright or Dark Room?:
Duh, bright for day, darkest for night.

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
She eats quesadillas for breakfast.

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Sleeping.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?:
I got coffee for both of us.
Sweet!

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?:
I don't know of any, but I can name every Starbucks within a 100 mile radius.

16. What's a saying(s) that you say a lot?:
Damn straight. / What the f? (tie)

17.Who told you they loved you last?:
My best friend.

18. Last furry thing you touched?:
A fleece blanket. You perv.

19. How many days of work did you miss last week:
None. But I plan to miss 2 this week.

20. How many rolls of film do you need to get developed?:
None.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?:
Now.

22. Your worst enemy?:
My obsessive nature. / The red minivan chick (tie)

23. What is your current desktop picture:
I'm sorry, but Rivendell from Lord of the Rings. It's so purty!

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?:
Keep the change.

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly, which would you choose?:
Can I be insured a soft landing? Then flight.

26. Do you like someone?:
A specific someone? No. A lot of somebodys? Yes.

27. The last song you listened to?:
Gloria by Vivaldi (we are singing it in choir, and I was practicing)

28. Carmen Electra or Pam Anderson?:
Huh? Why? For what?

913 Days, But Who's Counting?

This is a repost, marking two and a half years since I decided to give up alcohol.

Disclaimer: This post isn’t meant to be funny. These things are only funny to me because they are all true, because I did them, and because I salvaged my poor gin-soaked soul on August 6, 2003. If you think you might have a problem, consider these points or take this quiz. I took it 14 times before I realized that cheating on the answers didn’t make them any less true.

Image respectfully borrowed from BeerStuff

You Might Have a Little Bitty Problem With Alcohol If…

• You make three separate trips to the recycling center because you don’t want anyone to see how many bottles you have, but you still care about the earth.
• You carry your trash really carefully when your landlord is around, so he doesn't hear the clinking.
• You remember 1 bottle of chardonnay, but in the morning you see 3.
• You go to at least 3 different liquor stores because you don't want to be seen going so often; nevertheless, all the owners greet you by name.
• You drunk-dial your friends and then tell them the same story several times, in almost the exact same words. When they call you on it, you say, "oh, I've told this story so many times I don't remember who I told it to." (this doesn't work very well when it's the same person, in the same phone call)
• You make elaborate plans with friends and family, and then don’t remember a word. The next day, when your friend says, “so what time should come over?” you pretend you know all about it to cover your ass. Later, when your other friend calls (with whom you also made plans), you cancel because of an “appointment you forgot you had”.
• Your first words in the morning, every morning for 2+ years, are “Oh, shit—not again.”
• Your coworkers ask you why you look so tired, or if you are sick (answer: both). Your answer: trouble sleeping (also true).
• You wake up at 3 AM every night in a shame spiral, and wonder how & when you got to this point. You’re an intelligent, beautiful, self-aware woman, dammit—you can’t be a drunk! (you can be both; nobody sets out to have this affliction on purpose, ya know. Duh.) (By the way I sometimes dream that I went on a drinking binge & wake up feeling utter despair at having failed, then relief that I’m still OK. And if I did fail, I hope I’d have the strength to pick up where I left off).
• You bring your own magnum of chardonnay to the party because they probably don’t have what you want (or enough of it); you offer to open it for the hostess. You drink most of it.
• You order a whole bottle of wine at a bar and the bartendress keeps it on ice for you and all the friends you intend to share it with. Most of them don’t have any.
• You decide that a mandarin Absolut & tonic (m.a.t.) is OK at 10 AM; it’s citrusy, like orange juice. That's breakfast, right?
• You decide that grocery shopping is so much more fun with a buzz on, so you have one m.a.t. for breakfast & then put one in a sippy cup for the road.
• The following activities are drinking triggers: talking on the phone, sitting at the computer, watching TV, driving home from work. Also breathing, eating, sleeping.
• You’ve rationalized that you’d better switch to vodka since it doesn’t smell (as much—enough of anything and your sweat still smells like skid row).
• You lie to your best friend on the phone that the reason your speech is slurred is because you are wearing a Crest White Strips on your teeth.
• You decide to drink only on weekends, then drink on a Thursday because that’s close.
• You decide to drink every other day, and then fail after 2 days.
• You decide not to drink one morning, and then change your mind on the drive home. You haven’t done it yet, you could still stop it, but having made the decision in your mind it is already too late.
• You decide to drink just 2 glasses of wine, but glass 3.5 kills the bottle (you have biiiig glasses), so why stop? Wine goes bad if it sits.
• Wine never goes bad in your house.
• You wonder aloud about your drinking habits with all of your drinking friends, and say things like, “it’s not as if I’d drink something else if there were no wine in the house” (this was before I discovered the m.a.t. and the no-smell-vodka secret)
• There is always wine in the house.
• You actually think to yourself, who needs friends when I have this?
• You choose a night home with a DVD and 2 bottles of wine over a night out with friends (rationalization: cheaper, and then I don't have to drive drunk).
• You wonder aloud whether a life without wine in it is even possible. All those dinners out, and no wine? (it is possible, and the peace of mind that comes from a sober life far exceeds the enjoyment of a fine chardonnay. Although sometimes I still imagine the molten-gold flavor of it going down my throat, and I feel a lust unlike anything I’ve ever felt).
• You finally resolve to quit drinking, but you can’t “officially” quit until all the booze in the house is gone, so you make a list of everything you need to consume, including that nasty bottle of Pimm's and the Smuggler whiskey your dad brought over for a party once (happy ending: upon realizing the huge volumes I’d have to consume, I gave all my top-shelf vodkas, gins, scotches & rums to a friend for her huge summer bash, and poured the rest of it down the toilet on August 7, 2003. Funny, I didn’t feel bad about wasting it, even though I was raised not to waste nutrients. I figured those kids in Africa didn’t need to become boozehounds).
• You check out the AA website, just to see what it’s all about.
  

• [note: I am not made uncomfortable in any way by the mention of alcohol, the presence of it, or when my friends around me order it at the dinner table. I am happy to discuss it and proud of my sobriety. It’s not a word that needs to be whispered, like cancer or prison. I am not offended by anyone’s drunken audio post, or mention of drunkenness in this virtual (or any other) world. The only thing that upsets me is when I meet/see people who are obvious alcoholics; not because I judge them but because I know the place they are in, and it is not a good place. I questioned my drinking for 8 years, and experienced out-of-control drinking for about a year and a half before I stopped. I still question exactly how I got to that point. I can only hope that suffering alcoholics find solid ground, as I did. Thank you for reading.]

Now I Can Retire Happy

... for I have been flipped off by the parent of one of my students. Yup. At an intersection, where we disagreed on the right of way. Full frontal finger.

Bears n Ducks

This is wrong in so very many ways.

Unconscious Mutterings 156

When Luna knocks, I answer. And usually with a huge load of crap! How about you? Play now. Begin.

1. Long distance::
   
2. Meant to be::
   
3. Here::
   
4. Endless::
   
5. Resentment::
   
6. Insipid::
   
7. Bunny::
   
8. Slogan::
   
9. Naked::
   
10. Sarcasm::
    

Spinning Girl said:

1. Long distance:: shot put
   
2. Meant to be:: let it go
   
3. Here:: and now
   
4. Endless:: summer
   
5. Resentment:: builds, so stay the fuck away.
   
6. Insipid:: sippy cup (whu?)
   
7. Bunny:: McFee (whozzat?)
   
8. Slogan:: Logo
   
9. Naked:: Arms
   
10. Sarcasm:: Mean
    

They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

This was sent to me by Izzie. Thank you muchly!!!

(click the picture)

Five Star Resort VIII: All Good Things Must End.

Since yesterday was to be our last day together, I made special dinner plans and told Monkey not to fill up on snacks while I was at work. He stayed home alone, and appears none the worse, although he did mistakenly attack my s'more-snowman Christmas ornament. They look real, I know!

For our special dinner, I got an order of sushi for us to share. I put on some quiet music (Hoobastank) and we enjoyed tea while reflecting on our time together. We were going to play a game, but quality time seemed like a better option. Monkey feels that the high point of the trip, for him, was his time at my school. I don't see how much fun he could have had sitting in my bookbag, but he seems to have enjoyed himself.

Monkey became quite adept at eating with the chopsticks, and later practiced with his banana slices. For most of the time, I hand-fed him, a new delight of his that he is sure to miss when he returns home. he kept chuckling and petting me between bites. I believe he is rather smitten at this point, and who can blame him?

I think Monkey might like this as an alternate avatar.

This morning was heartbreaking. We had a long and sorrowful embrace. I've never had a little simian hold on to me quite so tightly!

Then I packed Monkey into his rocketship with all of his belongings and a few souvenirs, and wished him well. I sent him on his way in the early morning, and I hope that he has a safe journey home. I will never forget this time, sweet one. I had the time of my life!

Bon voyage, darling.